by R. R. Virdi
Silence. Kind of figured. It’s not every day you tell a monster you trapped his partner in a piece of glass. Maybe they made a Hallmark card for it.
Ashton finally got his wits together. “You.”
“Me,” I chirped. “Surprised?”
“A little. I expected Anna to have taken care of you.”
“Well, she tried. Doesn’t count for much though, does it?”
“Not since she failed, no.”
Brr. Cold.
No loyalty among thieves.
“Well, here’s your chance to do the job right. All you have to do is tell me where you are, Ashton.”
“Is that all?”
“Yep. I’ll even bring myself over there wrapped up for ya—bow tie and all.”
“Well, when you put it like that, how can I say no?” Ashton’s voice was all ash and grit.
A pained whimper made itself barely audible through the line.
My breath solidified in my throat. I had a bad feeling about that.
“Quiet, you’ll get your turn.” Ashton’s tone made it clear that wasn’t directed at me. He was chiding someone else.
The elevator hit the lobby, and the doors opened.
Part of me felt glued in place, but I followed Ortiz out and took the phone off speaker. “Who else is there with you?”
“That’s a loaded question. Let’s see…” He trailed off, and I could imagine him pausing on the other end for effect. “There’s Ariel, fit little number. You remember her.”
I did.
“Oh”—a finger snap echoed through the line—“Caroline. That’s right, your lovebird.”
I gritted my teeth, glad that I’d taken the phone off the speaker. Ortiz didn’t need to hear that.
“Well, I should say Daniel’s quick flame. Looks like that burned out fast. Back to the Fed? Tell me, does she bring out the cuffs—”
“Shut the hell up.”
“Touched a nerve? Shouldn’t bother you much. You’re only borrowing his skin, right?”
The phone squirmed in my hardening grip. “Keep talking. When I find you, I’m going to leave you like I did Anna. Trust me; it’s not pretty.”
“Speaking of pretty, there’s someone else here too. Yeah, we’re admiring the art together.” He broke off and muttered something I couldn’t make out. “Kelly, that’s her name. Know her?” His voice made it clear he knew damn well that I did.
Plastic and glass cracked, and the insides of my fingers ached. I loosened my grip on the phone. A rainbow-like blur washed through a portion of the screen. “Yeah, I know her.”
“I found her trawling your gallery alone. It’s not safe to go out by yourselves these days, especially in a world of monsters. Didn’t you tell her that?”
I quickened my pace, giving Ortiz a silent look that told her to hurry up. We bustled by the front desk, heading towards the lot. “I did warn her.”
It was the truth. I’d told Kelly to stay as clear as she could of this world. It didn’t make things sting any less. She was in trouble because of me.
We went through the sliding doors and entered the lot, hitting the pavement hard and fast. Ortiz’s car wouldn’t be parked far.
Ashton inhaled deep enough to come through the line. His breathing sounded like he was excited. “I almost thought it was you, you know? I felt Kelly ringing out through the Neravene like a trumpet—so clear. All those questions she wanted answers for. Needed answers for. She was willing to do anything for them.”
Was?
I faltered for a step. Ortiz’s battered sedan came into view.
She sped up and crossed over to the driver’s side as I hustled over to the passenger’s. We entered in unison. Ortiz didn’t wait for me to buckle up before she started the car and slipped it into drive. Tires screeched as we pulled out fast.
“What did you do to her?” I kept from squeezing the phone any harder.
“Nothing, yet.” Ashton’s voice was a bit too put on.
I didn’t buy it.
“She’s a little roughed up at the moment, nothing too bad. I just wanted to make her more receptive to my offer. I can give you everything you want. Anything you want to know—all of it.” His last two comments were obviously addressed to Kelly.
“Yeah, and a Nigerian prince has a million dollars for me!” Kelly cracked back.
I snorted. At least she was okay enough for snarky retorts. It also made it clear she wasn’t going to take his offer. Small relief.
A sharp smack sounded off.
Asshole.
“She’s stubborn. No worries. I’ve enticed people far more resolute in their convictions. I’ve been doing this for quite a while.”
“Everyone’s got to retire sometime.” I placed a hand on the speaker to keep him from hearing the next bit. “Ortiz, Dan’s art gallery—fast. He’s got Kelly and the others there.”
She gave me a wide-eyed look before snapping her attention back to the road. Her foot stomped the accelerator.
The sudden burst of speed sent me back against my seat. I pulled my hand away from the speaker. “Don’t hurt them.”
“That almost sounded like a plea. Try again. Don’t hurt them, why? Give me a good reason.” Ashton was probably smiling at the other end of the line.
“What do you want, you freak?” I shot Ortiz a glance—a silent request for her to step on it.
She did.
“I want you. I want them. Why settle? I’ve always been able to have and give it all. I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Anna. Maybe after I’m through with you, and if I’m satisfied, I’ll think about letting the others go.” Ashton’s voice was all acid.
I took note of the venom in his words. He was riled up, meaning he could be made emotional. He cared about Anna, enough to get angry. Angry people—and monsters—could be manipulated. I could work with that.
I cleared my throat, weighing my next words carefully. “I’ll be there.” I didn’t expect him to honor his bargain, but then, I didn’t plan to lie down and die for him either. He didn’t need to know that detail.
“You’ve got thirty minutes. Don’t be late, or I’ll start pushing the girls harder. One of them will break and give in. I don’t like torture, but some people will sell their soul just to make the pain stop. Thirty minutes.” He hung up.
Plastic and glass gave way as the screen crunched completely. “Dammit!”
Ortiz stared at me in silence.
“We’ve got thirty minutes to get there, or else Kelly…” I trailed off.
Ortiz reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll make it, and then we’ll stop this thing. We’ve done it before. We’ll do it again.”
“Thank you.”
She said nothing, but smiled and gunned it.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
We pulled up to the studio. Pale morning light gave the place a cool, muted look. The glass panels added to that.
Ortiz unbuckled and leaned over, reaching past my lap.
“Uh, whoa there. You haven’t even bought me dinner—ow.” The area above my hip throbbed as Ortiz’s fist pulled away from the spot.
“Smartass.” She opened the glove box, pulling out my journals and tossing them into my lap. “Hold those a sec.”
“Yeah, sure.” I ran a hand over the journal containing all the lore I’d come across. There was something warm and comforting about holding it again.
Ortiz rummaged through the compartment, pulling out a rectangular box made of hard, black composite plastic. She thumbed it open. Two loaded magazines lay inside. She fished them out, stowing them inside her jacket.
I watched her quietly for a second before my mouth got the better of me. “And for your next trick…pulling a bazooka out from under your seat?”
“After putting up with your world, believe me, if I could, I would.” She cracked a smile that set me off into a torrent of laughter. Ortiz joined in.
I lost track of how long passed before it died into a series of light huf
fs and snorts. “If you ever do get a bazooka, dibs.”
Ortiz let out one last laugh before cutting it off and giving me a somber look. “No. You razed a hotel to the ground—”
“Did not! Almost, the caveat matters.”
“Almost, fine. And you did that without an explosive weapon.”
I sniffed and turned my head to look out the window. “You’re never going to let that go.”
“Never.” Her smile widened.
“I can live with that.” I stowed my journals in the compartment and held out a hand. “Mind giving me a piece?”
Ortiz tilted her head to the back seats.
I followed the gesture and grinned. Something sat wrapped in a small plastic tarp across the backseat. Ortiz had likely hidden the weapons from earlier within the bundle. I could work with those.
Ortiz seemed to have read my mind. “You know how to use them?”
I stared at her.
Her face was a neutral mask, but a light gleamed in her eyes.
“Yes. What do I look like?”
The light grew, and the corners of her mouth twitched. “You don’t want me to answer that.”
I glowered. “Ha, ha. Very funny.” I reached back and flipped open the canvas, grabbing the pump-action. A quick twist followed as I maneuvered an arm through the weapon’s strap. My fingers scraped against the end of the compact machine gun, and I pulled it into my grip. A gentle itch filled my left forearm.
My tattoo changed. There was no way we’d lost an hour on our way over here. I’d been tracking the digital clock housed in the car’s center console. We had ten minutes to spare, meaning I’d arrived back in the mortal world a bit into the last hour.
Sixteen left.
I crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t need ‘em.
Ortiz caught my look. “Let’s hope we won’t need that long.”
I nodded.
She reached over and tugged on the submachine gun, and I arched a brow. “Maybe someone with more firearms practice should use this?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but thought it over. She had a point.
Machine pistols and the like looked great and fun to use on television. In reality, they were different animals. Sure, they could rain down lead, but that doesn’t do you any good. They excelled in coordinated, short bursts to pepper targets. Otherwise, you ended up with a spray of bullets that would turn innocent bystanders into Swiss cheese.
I forked over the gun. “You okay using this? I know you’ve got problems hauling these things around.” I gave her a sympathetic smile.
Ortiz gave me a feral grin as she took it from my grip. “For Kelly, yes. Now let’s stop this thing.”
Worked for me.
I checked the pump-action, satisfied it had enough shells left in it for me to wreak some havoc, I swung open the door. “Let’s.” I stepped out, keeping the weapon low and tucked to my side.
It’s not recommended to go out in broad daylight toting weapons in front of an art gallery. That sort of thing gets you funny looks.
Ortiz did a better job of making her way towards the front entrance while concealing her weapon.
Showoff.
We exchanged a quick look at the door. A beige canvas hung inside the doors with a hastily painted message across it.
“Closed?” Ortiz quirked a brow and looked at me.
I shrugged. “Good way to deter random people from coming by. I bet you the door’s unlocked.”
Ortiz pursed her lips before frowning. “No deal. People see a sign saying an expensive gallery is closed, they’ll listen. Five bucks says he’s expecting us to come in the front. I’m betting ambush.”
“Not taking that action. You’re probably right.”
Ortiz smiled.
I tried to match it, but the fatigue was getting to me
My healing abilities can only wash away so much. Right now, they were taxed stitching me back together from my fallout with Anna.
I flexed both of my hands, grimacing through the light twinges. They’d recovered enough from the battering. The part of my shoulder Anna had bitten no longer sported angry puncture marks. A row of purplish bruising was the only sign I’d been injured there.
Ortiz nudged me with an elbow, giving me an inquisitive look. “You alright? You look…” Her mouth twitched, but she didn’t continue.
“Tired, beaten, sleepless?”
“Like shit. But those work too.”
I gave her a strained smile. “I feel like it. I’ll recover as more time passes.”
She pursed her lips. “That’s not a healthy way to do this kind of work. You’ll run yourself into the ground, and next time you might not get back up.” Her voice took on a leaden weight.
“Tell me about it. But that’s what it is. Ortiz, I’m literally occupying someone else’s broken body. It’s already done with and by all rights should be in the ground. When I’m stuffed into one of these things”—I tugged the neck of my shirt—“they often end up in worse shape than they were before I came along.”
“I figured. Doesn’t change that fact that you’re wearing my friend’s body. It’s him—a part of him, anyway—that you’re running ragged.”
Jab.
She wasn’t wrong though.
Ortiz folded a corner of her lower lip, chewing on it for a microsecond. “I’m sorry. That was harsh. I’m just worried. You’re no good to anyone if you burn out. Whatever you may be able to do and come back from, there are limits. You have to have them too.”
Twist.
Right again. I did have limits, and if I was lucky, I’d never have them fully tested. Hell, I’d come close over the years. But there’s always that extra step you never want to be forced to take to find out what those limits are.
“You’re right.” It came out rougher than I’d desired. “We’ll talk after this is through. We agreed on that much earlier, yeah?”
She nodded.
“Let’s just figure a game plan to get us through this and then deal with whatever comes next. There another way in?” An image flitted through my mind the second I’d finished asking the question.
A path ran along the left side of the building. It led to an emergency exit on the first floor. A keypad access hung near the door, allowing it to be opened from the outside without tripping the alarm and alerting the authorities. It’d also let us get by any measures Ashton might have set up to watch or booby trap the front entrance.
Ortiz opened her mouth to speak.
I waved her off. “Never mind, got it.” I tapped a finger to the side of my head. “Dan’s memories.”
Her nose twitched, and a corner of her mouth quirked. “Showoff.”
I gave her a more authentic grin than I’d managed before. “Come on.” I hustled to the side of the building, following the wall about two-thirds of the way to the back of the structure.
A simple steel door, generic gray in color, barred our way. Just like in my vision, a keypad of the same metal and color hung beside the door.
I flipped the latch holding its cover in place and opened it. A standard ten-digit number pad sat in place. An endless amount of combinations were possible, and we didn’t have the time to guess through them. I shot Ortiz a look.
She shook her head.
“Damn.” I took a page out of Ortiz’s book and chewed on my lip for a moment. The temptation to point the shotgun at the pad and blast it away was awfully tempting.
That sort of solution works great on television. In reality, it’d draw the cops and leave the door non-operational.
I brushed my fingers against the cool metal buttons in the hope of coaxing something out of Daniel’s buried memories.
It worked.
The sheer tactile sensation dredged up an act conditioned to be near automatic for him.
My index finger acted of its own accord, jabbing the buttons in perfect imitation of the sequence I saw in my mind.
A minute dot, nestled within the pad, flashed green.
&n
bsp; I placed a hand on the door and tugged it open.
Ortiz lingered, staring at the pad before turning her gaze to me.
“What’s up?” I pushed the door open further as a silent invitation for her to hurry up.
“The code you entered—it’s the date Daniel took me out for the first time.” Her voice was the definition of forced neutrality.
Awkward.
I couldn’t imagine the thoughts and emotions running through her. So, I did the next best thing. I held my hand out, letting the door rest against my hip. “Come on, we’ve got people to save. Let’s go be big, shiny heroes.” I stretched the goofiest grin possible across my face.
She rolled her eyes, but took my hand and followed me inside.
I squinted down the darkened hallway, trying to gauge what was ahead. Overhead lighting flickered in the throes of dying out.
Great.
Long, dark hallway; shoddy lights; and a monster was about.
“Side-by-side, stay a step ahead of me, and keep the shotgun high.” Ortiz moved a foot to my right and back a step. She sunk her weight a bit.
I didn’t argue. It was a smart tactic. One that allowed us to move down the hall without putting one of us in another’s line of fire.
We moved in tandem through the hall. The sporadic bursts of fluorescent lighting played hell with my vision.
All I needed now was for a giant freaking bat to jump me in the dark.
I felt a small pang of sympathy for the goons jumped by Batman in the comics.
“Except you ain’t no Batman.”
Ortiz stopped, giving me a look. “What?”
“Nothing.” I picked up my pace, taking long strides towards the end of the hall.
“Tell me you have a plan that’s more than us shooting everything we have at Ashton.” Ortiz’s voice was cool and level, but I picked up on a note of something underneath. She was anxious. She’d never been a fan of going in unprepared.
I couldn’t blame her.
“I have a plan.”
She bristled. “Is it one of those plans I’m not going to like?”
I fought not to smile. “Yeah, you’re not going to like it.”